Religious and spiritual (R/S) dimensions of mental health have been poorly studied in psychiatry in the last 150 years. In the late 19th century, Jean Charcot and Sigmund Freud began to associate religion with hysteria and neurosis, and therby interpreting this social phenomenon als psychopathology. This began a deep divide that would separate religion from mental health care for the next centu...

BACKGROUND This study examined the association between blood pressure (BP), selected health behaviors, and various dimensions of religiosity among females. METHODS Data were obtained on 112 females who were at least 35 years of age and of Judeo-Christian faith. Resting BP measures were taken with an automated sphygmomanometer, height and weight were measured to determine body mass index (BMI)...

The purpose of this paper is to consider some of the ways in which the scientific study of religions might have implications for the continuing process of dialogue between religions. While the study of religions itself is a non-religious activity, the dialogue between religions, on the other hand, certainly is in some sense a religious activity. It involves the presentation and exchange of reli...

Since at least the sixteenth century, the areas of the present day regions of Harar and Wallo have been important centres of teaching and diffusion of Islam as well as of preservation of Islamic culture and education. Preachers and scholars from these areas played a decisive role in the introduction and dissemination of the faith in the country, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centu...

Dimensions of religious/spiritual well being (RSWB; such as hope, forgiveness, or general religiosity) have been examined comprehensively, and its positive relation to subjective well-being has been confirmed. However, there also might be facets of RSWB linked to mental illness (e.g. delusional ideas). The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between different dimensions ...